Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Prayer Meeting Lesson Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/pm/pm20071219.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
Leviticus: Fellowship With A Holy God
Part I: Acceptable Relationship With A Holy God, Leviticus 1:1-7:38
F. Clarification Of The Offerings, Leviticus 6:8-7:38
6. The Peace Offering Clarification: The Need For Watchfulness To Stay In Fellowship With God
(Leviticus 7:11-21)
  1. Introduction
    1. Scripture reveals that IF we "walk" in accord with Scripture teaching as God in His righteousness is revealed in His Word, THEN we have fellowship with God and fellow godly believers, 1 John 1:3-7.
    2. Now, the word "walk" implies a process, meaning that to enjoy continued fellowship with a holy God, we must WATCH that we STAY separate from sin as a WAY of LIFE, a truth noted in Leviticus 7:11-21:
  2. The Peace Offering Clarification: The Need For Watchfulness To Stay In Fellowship With God.
    1. We learned in Leviticus 1:1-2 that in great contrast to God's having presented Himself with staggering harshness in perfect righteousness from Mount Sinai due to the contrasting sin in the people of Israel, He gently spoke from the tabernacle to Moses on how Israel could graciously enjoy fellowship with Him.
    2. We then learned that one of the sacrifices typifying fellowship with God was the peace offering, "the only offering in which the offerer shared by eating a portion of the sacrifice", Lev. 7:15; Ryrie Study Bible, KJV , 1978 ed., ftn. to Lev. 3:1. This sacrifice figuratively presented God as dining on the fat portions that burned on the altar while the offerer ate his share, picturing the fellowship God and the offerer enjoyed with one another in accord with the significance of mutual dining in Scripture, cf. 1 Corinthians 10:16-18!
    3. However, the PROCESS of eating of one's share of the sacrifice was to be marked by watching that one maintain his separation from defilement lest he lose his fellowship with God, Leviticus 7:11-21:
      1. The thanksgiving kind of peace offering involved an extensive initial effort by the offerer, 7:11-14:
        1. The most common kind of peace offering, the thank offering, was to be accompanied by one of each of three different kinds of grain offerings, cf. Leviticus 7:11-12, Bible Know. Com., O. T., p. 185: these included (1) unleavened loaves of grain mixed with olive oil, (2) unleavened wafers of grain smeared with olive oil, and (3) loaves of fine flour "well-kneaded" with olive oil, Lev. 7:12 NIV.
        2. The offerer was to give one of each of these three kinds of loaves unto God, and they would become the property of the priest who sprinkled the animal blood about the altar, 7:13-14; 3:2b, 8b, 13b.
      2. However, the offerer had to WATCH that he maintain his holiness AFTER making this offering to MAINTAIN his blessed fellowship with the Lord, and not nullify the initial offering's effects, 7:15-21:
        1. The offerer was to eat his share of the sacrificial meat of the thanksgiving variety of the peace offering the day he offered it; eating what was left the next day was a trespass, Leviticus 7:15.
        2. However, if his peace offering was not of the thanksgiving variety, but was a vow offering or a freewill offering, the offerer could eat his share of the meat on the day he offered it as well as on the second day, Leviticus 7:16. Nevertheless, what was left for the third day was to be burned up, 7:17.
        3. Eating of his share of the sacrificial meat on the day after it was permissible would nullify the effect of the initial peace offering, and leave the offerer guilty of a trespass for profaning his role in the fellowship he had begun with the Lord when he initially made the offering, Lev. 7:18 NIV, ESV!
        4. Then, any flesh of the offer's share that happened to touch anything listed as ceremonially unclean in the Mosaic Law was not to be eaten by him, but was to be burned up by fire, Leviticus 7:19a.
        5. Now, a ceremonially clean offerer could eat his share of his offering, but if he was ceremonially unclean when he ate of it, he was to be excommunicated, Lev. 7:19b-20! What made him unclean would be any contact with an entity called unclean in the Law, be it human or animal, Lev . 7:21.
Lesson: Though the offerer might initiate fellowship with the Lord by making a peace offering, to enjoy a PERPETUALLY HOLY God's fellowship as a WAY of LIFE, one was to WATCH that he RETAIN his SEPARATION from DEFILEMENT even AFTER he had made the original offering!

Application: Enjoying God's CONTINUED fellowship involves MORE than a CHOICE to be HOLY -- it involves a LIFE of WATCHFUL, CONTINUED SEPARATION from SIN! May we WATCH our LIVES and DOCTRINE to STAY holy and so enjoy God's CONTINUED blessing, 1 Timothy 4:12-16!